Broken cast iron grate (too hot?)

YankinOz

I usually do pizza with just the convEGGtor turned upside down and a pizza stone sitting on top of it and it works great. Tonight I decided to experiment and put my two grates (one stainless steal and one cast iron) on top of the convEGGtor to raise it up another inch or so in the dome. Pizzas still turned out fine with no real difference but after I finished I noticed that the cast iron grate had cracked completely through in several places, with two whole pieces detached, as you can see in the bottom right of the photo. The temp was high, probably 700+, but I can't imagine it was hot enough to crack cast iron. Any ideas about what happened? And is this covered under warranty? I've had it less than two years.

 

tenpenny_05

I would imagine because it was heated unevenly.

HeavyG

There was likely just some internal stress in the grate. CI (and soapstone, and ceramics, etc.) sometimes have "fault lines" that let go.

I would assume it would be a warranty replaceable thing.

Carolina Q

They all break. Except my third one. 

I bought one with my egg, it lasted about a month, no extreme cooks, just lost a chunk of it. Dealer replaced it. That one lasted another month or two. Dealer replaced it. Both were still usable, but I got new ones anyway.

With the third one though, I decided there was no point so I left it in the plastic bag figuring I'd still have a spare when the other two were beyond help. That's where it is to this day.

Used the one that had the least damage for another few years (it hasn't broken any more) before I finally got tired of lugging that heavy thing around for no benefit. Been using the stock grid ever since, or a Weber grid on stilts for raised cooks. Two cracked grids and a brand new one are in my garage. Somewhere.

If I had it to do again, I wouldn't buy a CI grid, but I had always wanted one for some reason.

RRP

What @CarolinaQ said! On top of that I always harp that the problem with the cast iron grate that BGE sells is the inherent design flaw. With that circular outer ring when the center gets hot it expands, but that outer ring is cold and the expansion is restricted until it finds a weakness in the casting and then breaks. Years ago there was a popular hint to take a hacksaw and cut a small section out of the circular ring in the sides, but that in itself voided the warranty so it was a catch 22 issue.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Carolina Q said:

They all break. Except my third one. 

I bought one with my egg, it lasted about a month, no extreme cooks, just lost a chunk of it. Dealer replaced it. That one lasted another month or two. Dealer replaced it. Both were still usable, but I got new ones anyway.

With the third one though, I decided there was no point so I left it in the plastic bag figuring I'd still have a spare when the other two were beyond help. That's where it is to this day.

Used the one that had the least damage for another few years (it hasn't broken any more) before I finally got tired of lugging that heavy thing around for no benefit. Been using the stock grid ever since, or a Weber grid on stilts for raised cooks. Two cracked grids and a brand new one are in my garage. Somewhere.

If I had it to do again, I wouldn't buy a CI grid, but I had always wanted one for some reason.

Same here. After I broke
3 in 6 months I kept the last one in the bag. I gave it to my bro-in-law when his wife melted a plastic bucket on his vision grid (still can't figure this one out). It broke after a few uses for him as well. I think the large and XL CI grids are just to big to be stable. I do have a small ci grid that I use with a spider to sear Ive had it for 4-5
years and it's still good. 

Biggreenpharmacist

I guess I'm
luck. Mine is still just fine and I think Im going on five years. Granted I hardly ever go above 600 degrees and dont do high heat clean burns. If/when it breaks I'll go a different direction. 

Calibbq

mine split as well as ceramic base about 6 months in . dealer replaced no questions asked  never had mine that hot 

Focker

Biggreenpharmacist said:

I guess I'm
luck. Mine is still just fine and I think Im going on five years. Granted I hardly ever go above 600 degrees and dont do high heat clean burns. If/when it breaks I'll go a different direction. 

This is key.

Extreme hells sear high heat and CI don't work well, especially with thin grids.

You see it a lot old iron hunting.
Those wood stove eyes have Focked up many pans, concentrating the heat in the middle.

These pans even have a name, "spinners", because you can spin them on a level surface.

No issues with my Mangrates, but each one comes in at 8lbs. 

RRP

Here's the cast iron grate I made for my small by cutting it out of a rectangular piece. See how it can expand and contract?

cookingdude555

That's cool Ron 

RRP

cookingdude555 said:

That's cool Ron 

Thanks - people just don't realize how soft of a metal cast iron is and how easy it is to cut, but also break!

etherdome

Mine is also cracked. Got that way in the first 3 months. 3 years later, no changes. I just have a difficult time maintaining it it. Darn thing gets rust on it so easily, it's frustrating. When this one meets it's maker , I will not get a new one . Haven't seen enough benefit .